


The Road Ahead

by Mizukixx96



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst, Apocalypse, Drama & Romance, F/M, Fluff, Protective Daryl Dixon, Romance, Walkers (Walking Dead)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:02:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24589528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mizukixx96/pseuds/Mizukixx96
Summary: Rosalie Walsh is the sister of Shane Walsh and the mother of 13 year old Connor Walsh. Her family is all she has left in the world, she finds it hard to let others into her heart. But during the apocalypse she meets a certain Dixon who will change her life forever.
Relationships: Daryl Dixon/Original Character(s), Daryl Dixon/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

Rosalie Walsh was rushing round the busy ER department of the Kings County Hospital. She noted how much busier it was than usual as she ran around trying to attuned to five patients at once. Her messy brown hair was falling out of its bun and her scrubs were covered in both dry and fresh blood. She stopped at the nurses station to grab a patients chart that had been left there by mistake.

"Hey Rose!" The nurse behind the station called out to her.

"What is it Chloe?"

"Another person with a bite, that's the third one today" Rosalie watched as a pale elderly man was wheeled down the corridor clutching a bloodied cloth to his hand. "What the hell? That's the fifth one I've seen so far this week"

"I'm telling you it's drugs" Chloe stated as she leaned across the table "I was talking to another nurse from Atlanta and she said it's even worse over there"

"Strange" Rosalie mumbled to herself before she quickly bid farewell to Chloe. she made her way towards her next patients room. The patient was exhibiting a unusually high fever so the doctor wanted her to collect some blood to see what could be causing it.

She entered the room and turned to the man who looked deathly pale and was sweating through his hospital gown. "Hello Mr Robinson my name is Rosalie. I'm just going to take some blood okay?"

"Sure" the man croaked out "do you know what's wrong with me?"

"Not yet sir but when the results come back we hopefully will" Rosalie gave him a reassuring smile as she prepared the needle. A commotion could be heard outside, someone shouting about a gunshot wound but Rosalie ignored it deciding to find out what was going later.

"It's funny you know? I was just walking home from work when all of a sudden this guy jumps me, I thought he was robbing me at first but then I saw that he was trying to bite me...lucky for me a got him off but he scratched my arm pretty good" he lifted up his other arm showing Rosalie bandage that covered his right arm. "Now I'm sat in a hospital bed dying"

"All done sir, I'd try not to worry it's probably just an infection" Rosalie smiled as she walked out of the room to send the blood down for testing. Rosalie lent against the desk as she watched everything rush by in front of her eyes. she was thinking about all the sick people, the ones with the bites and infections. They had to be connected somehow but she wasn't sure how.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she saw a man wearing a police uniform walking down the corridor towards her. She smiled at him but that smile quickly disappeared once she saw his somber face and the puffiness of his eyes. Rosalie quickly rushed over to her brother wanting to know what happened, she saw blood on his uniform and started to panic, quickly she scanned his body for injuries only to let out a small sigh as she realised it wasn't his.

"Oh my god Shane! What happened?!"

"I-I didn't see him, it's my fault I didn't see him" Shane mumbled out tears glistening in his eyes

"Shane what-"

"He shot him Rose, he shot Rick. If I'd just seen him, if I'd just double checked" Silent tears ran down Shane's face as Rosalie pulled him into a tight embrace, her own tears streaming down her face. Her best friend had been shot

"Now you listen to me Shane Walsh this is not your fault okay? You did everything you could. It's not your fault" the two siblings stood silently still clinging onto one another for a couple more moments before slowly parting. Shane ran a hand down his tear stained face clearly too stressed and exhausted to deal with this right now.

"He's in surgery now, doctor said it could take a couple hours at least, it's bad Rose"

"Hey he's gonna be fine, he'll pull through this" Rosalie gave Shane a small reassuring smile. Checking her watch she silently cured it was 6:10pm and shed promised Connor she'd be home by 6. "Damn it, I promised Connor I'd be home by 6 but I don't want to leave you here alone"

"Actually Connors here with Lori and Carl. He insisted that he come with us after he found out about Rick"

"Okay, after seeing how Lori's doing I'll take both boys back to mine. It's getting late and it's been a long day for us all"

"Sounds like a good idea Rose, let's go" Shane guided her to a waiting room not far down the hall. Once Rosalie stepped into the room her heart ached at the sight. Lori was sat staring into space a heartbroken look on her face, her gaze then turned to the floor where Connor and Carl were sat playing a board game although neither looked to be fully invested.

Rosalie caught her sons eye and he immediately jumped up and ran into her open arms. She kissed the top of his head as his arms tightened around her waist, she felt tears staining her shirt and rubbed her sons back "it's gonna be okay sweetie, your uncle Rick's a strong man he'll be just fine" Rosalie glanced up at Lori who gave the woman a small smile.

"Hey Rosalie, do you..have you heard any news on Rick" she asked in a shaky voice.

"No but I can check with one of the nurses. Then afterwards I can take the boys back to mine, it's getting late and they need food and rest"

"Thank you so much. Hey Carl you want to go with aunt Rose and Connor to their house?" Lori asked the little boy who had moved to sit in the chair beside his mother.

"Can't I stay with you mum, I want to see dad" as Lori and Carl continued to discuss the matter Rosalie made her way over to the nearest nurses station to find out any information on Rick.

"Hey Jackie you got an update on a patient named Rick Grimes?" The older nurse scanned the computer in front of her for a couple minutes before turning to face Rosalie. "Sorry Hun looks like he's still in surgery"

"Okay thank you" she rushed back to the waiting room where four sets of eyes turned to her as she walked in "he's still in surgery which most likely means that he won't wake until morning now" Rosalie turned and walked over to Carl kneeling down in front of him "he's gonna be okay and in the morning I'll bring you straight here so that you can see him okay?"

Carl slowly nodded his head, clearly the young boy was too tired to argue anymore. They all said their goodbye before Rosalie and the young boys headed to the car. The journey home was silent as was dinner nobody was in the mood to talk, it had been an exhausting day for everybody. As Rosalie was saying goodnight to Carl he spoke for the first time in hours."Do you really think my dads going to be okay?"

"Of course I do buddy, your dad is one of the strongest men I know. Remember he's super cop, he'll be back up and fighting crime in no time" a small smile made its way onto Carl's face as he nodded his head agreeing with her statement.

Rosalie quietly shut the door to Carl's room and made her way into her own. She sat on the edge of the bed holding her face in her hands as she finally let the tears fall. Her best friend was in hospital fighting for his life she just prayed that he would make it.


	2. The End Of The World

He laid there seemingly lifeless and pale, if Rosalie didn't know any better she would say that Rick Grimes was dead. The heart monitor beating in the corner was the only thing giving her reassurance that her best friend was still alive.

The last few days seemed to have gone by in a blur for Rosalie, so much had happened that she was still trying to process everything. People had started getting sick, the people with the bites had died but some were saying that they were coming back to life. People were told to stay indoors and avoid all those who were bitten and that the government was apparently handling it. Foolishly Rosalie believed that they would, she believed that it would all be okay.

She had been called into work that morning to help prep the patients for evacuation to a hospital in Atlanta. Connor was left with Lori and Carl despite protests that he wanted her to stay where it was safe.

As Rosalie walked down the corridors of the overcrowded hospital full of doctors and nurses tending to patients outside of rooms due to the fact there were no beds left. Something odd caught her eye a elderly woman was limping out of a room, blood stained her gown. Rosalie was going to help the elderly lady knowing it wasn't safe for her to bed outside the room right now. As she walked towards the woman another nurse beat her too it, but as the nurse tried to guide the woman back to her room she let out a snarl and lunged at the nurse. Rosalie let out a horrified gasp as she saw the woman's teeth sink into the nurses neck. Everyone around them started screaming and panicking as the army officer stationed on the floor called for backup.

"We need backup now!"

"It's too late the hospital is becoming overrun with these things, people are dying left right and centre" the voice through the radio called back causing more people to panic. Rosalie ran and hid behind the nurses station as the sound of bullets started to mix with people's horrified screams. Her hands shook as she pulled out her phone and quickly called Shane, he picked up on the second ring "Rosie? Where are you?"

"I'm in the hospital, 3rd floor"

"Okay I'm already here I'm going to get Rick then I'll come for you okay? Stay where you are Rosie!"

"N-no it's not safe here I'll come find you"

"Damn it Ro-" Rosalie hung up on Shane quickly getting to her feet and running towards the nearest stairwell. Before she got there however she saw Chloe standing against the wall sobbing. "Chloe! Oh god are you okay? Come on I'm going to find Shane and then we'll get out of here" Rosalie grabbed her wrist but Chloe quickly pulled back shaking her head "Chloe? What's wrong? We have have to go".

Chloe just shook her head again "I'm sorry" Rosalie looked at her in confusion which turned to sadness as Chloe rolled up her sleeve revealing a bite mark. "Chloe no...h-how? When?"

"I was checking in on ICU patients this morning I thought he was dead but..." Chloe let out a sad chuckle "guess not hey. Now I'm going to turn into one of those...things"

"No Chloe just because you were bitten doesn't mean-"

"Yes it does! And you know it. Now go find Shane and get home to your boy" Rosalie debated for a moment before giving Chloe a tight hug as silent tears streamed down her face. "I love you" she whispered before letting her go. "Love you to Rose, now go". Rosalie kissed her forehead before turning round and heading towards the stairwell once again. She didn't want to leave Chloe but she knew there was no other choice.

She made it to the stairwell seeing it was full of people running down trying to escape the horrors that were inside the hospital. Rosalie pushed through people as she ran trying to get to the next floor up to her brother and best friend. Once she finally made it she noticed that hardly anyone was up there, she saw people with bullet holes in their heads obviously they had been shot by military. Rosalie looked at the sight in horror swallowing the urge to be sick as she continued on to Rick's room.

Rounding a corner she saw Shane stood leaning against a bed that was pushed up against the door to Rick's room. Hearing her footsteps he looked up at her his eyes filling with relief at the sight of his sister standing before him. "Shane is Rick okay?" Shane just looked at her with tears shining in his eyes. "No" Rosalie whispered as she rushed to the door to Rick's room trying to move the bed out of the way but Shane stopped her.

"Rosalie stop he's gone" Shane held his sister in his arms as she continued to struggle against him, she refused to believe that another one of her friends was dead "he's gone" Shane whispered into her hair as Rosalie broke down into sobs not able to believe that the man she'd known practically her whole life was gone. After a moment of just standing there holding each other tightly Rosalie pulled away wiping her eyes. She knew they couldn't stay at the hospital for much longer and just wanted to get home to her son. "How's Connor?"

"He's fine, he's at home with Lori and Carl packing. We're heading to Atlanta tonight" Shane explained

"Oh god, Lori and Carl how are we gonna tell them about..." Rosalie trailed off starting at the door to Rick's room. "Don't worry about that now let's just get out of here before those things come" Shane guided his sister through the hospital luckily they didn't run into any problems on the way to the car. In the car it took them less time than expected to get back to the Grimes household due to the fact that most of the town were probably already on their way to Atlanta.

Rosalie got out of the car but before she had even shut the door a voice called out to her "Mum!". Rosalie turned round and upon seeing her son running towards her she let out a sigh of relief and for the first time that day she found the strength to smile.

Connor ran into his mothers arms almost knocking her over in the process, he held onto her tightly scared for just the slightest moment that he had lost her. His mother was the world to him and the thought of maybe loosing her...well he couldn't bare thinking about it. He pulled back from her once he noticed that the others had gone inside but that's when he noticed it, the missing person that should have been in the back seat. "Mum where's uncle Rick?" Despite the question Connor already knew that it wasn't good news, the look on his mothers face gave it away along with the crying that he could hear coming from inside the house. Rick was dead. "No no no no" Connor chanted falling back into his mothers arms.

"Sshh sweetheart I know, I know" Rosalie soothed as she stroked Connors hair pulling the sobbing boy tighter into her. "It's going to be okay" but when Connors breathing started getting shallower Rosalie herself began to panic. "Okay let's get you inside"

Rosalie brought Connor inside as his breathing got worse, she sat him down at the kitchen table and kneeled in front of him. "Connor sweetie look at me" she gently placed her hands on the side of his face lifting it up to look at her "everything is okay look it's just you and me okay?"

"You and me" Connor repeated through heaven breaths

"Good now just focus on me and take deep breaths with me okay, nothing is going to hurt you. It's just you and me here"

"Nothing's going to hurt me" Connor repeated as he focused on his mothers breaths and slowly fell into the rhyme of copying them. After a couple more minutes his breathing was completely back to normal. "You okay now?" Connor just nodded as he picked up the glass of water that was placed in front of him by Shane who had entered the room not long ago. Rosalie got up making her way over to him "how are they?"

"Shaken, they're in the car waiting. I think they just want to get out of here" He replied solemnly. Rosalie nodded taking a moment to double check they had everything before going to join the others in the car. Lori and Shane sat up front while Rosalie sat with the two boys in the backseat. The car journey was silent, everyone was too emotionally drained from the loss of such an important person in their lives.

Hours later and it was currently nightfall as the small group sat in the car stuck on the highway into Atlanta. Rosalie had lost track of how long they'd actually been in the same spot. The silence in the car was not helping with the dark thoughts that kept creeping into her mind. She knew people were dying out there, hell two of her best friends were dead. Rosalie held in the tears that she so desperately wanted to cry, she had to be strong for everyone but most importantly she had to be strong for her son. She didn't know what the future held for them but she would be damned if she let anything happen to him. She would give up her own life for his any day.

"Mommy" a voice whispered to her, she looked to her left seeing her sons saddened blue eyes staring back at her. She brushed some curls off his face and gave him the best smile that she could though she doubted that it was convincing "what is it sweetheart?"

"Can we get out the car please I need some air" Rosalie looked around seeing that other people were doing the same. The traffic hadn't moved in what felt like hours and Rosalie herself needed to stretch her legs so she agreed. "Okay but you stay by me at all times"

"Okay" Connor answered back giving his mother one of those not so convincing smiles that she gave him just moments before. The two of them got out of the car and the other three occupants were quick to follow. No one said anything they all just stood there taking in the cool nighttime breeze. The silence was only broken when Carl asked his mother if they had any food which unfortunately they didn't. While Rick was at the hospital the little family had mostly eaten take out so there wasn't much food at all to bring with them.

A kind looking lady came up to the little group giving them a nervous smile. "Hello I'm Carol, I could get you something I think we have some bars in the car or something"

"Thank you so much" Lori replied looking relieved that her son would be fed. "I'm Lori and this is my son Carl" they shook hands and Carol turned to Rosalie.

"I'm Rosalie and this is my son Connor, thank you so much for your help a Carol" she shook her hand politely when a little girl walked over bringing a smile to Carols face. "This is my daughter Sophia and over there is my husband Ed" she said pointing to a grey haired man by the car who was staring intently at the group. Rosalie didn't like him already the way he was looking at them sent an unpleasant chill up her spine.

Carol walked over to her car only to be stopped by her husband. Rosalie watched the couple talk her eyes narrowing as Carol flinched away from him before nodding and walking back towards them, something was definitely wrong there. "I'm sorry Ed said we ran out"

Rosalie placed a gentle hand on the woman's shoulder "it's okay Carol, honestly thank you for offering"

"Hey" Lori came over "I'm going to see where Shane went, mind looking after Carl for me?"

"Of course Lori you know you don't need to ask me" Lori gave her a greatful smile as she went to go find him. When Lori was out of site the smile vanished from Rosalie's face, something was going on between those two and Rosalie wasn't sure if she liked it. She'd noticed Shane glancing at Lori more than he should, maybe he was worried about her or maybe it was something else. Before she could dwell on it a second longer loud explosions could be heard coming from the city as planes were heard overhead.

"Auntie Rosie what's that sound?" Carl asked as he clutched onto her shirt. Rosalie snapped out of her shocked state when she heard the boys voice. She quickly ushered the boys into the car despite their protests of wanting to know what was happening. They had been through so much already they didn't need to see what was happening beyond the tree line.

5 minutes later Lori and Shane came rushing back to the car both in the same state of shock that Rosalie was in. "What are we going to do now the city is gone?" Rosalie asked the two in a hushed whisper so that the boys couldn't hear.

"I don't know Rosie, we'll just have to find somewhere safe"

Rosalie was about to respond when a old man wonde

red over to them "excuse me I think I know a place, it's secluded and safe for children. It's not near the city"

"Where did you have in mind?" Rosalie asked jumping at the chance to have a safe place for her son and Carl to stay.

"A Quarry"

The group arrived at the quarry early the next morning. A good number of cars, mainly families, had also agreed to come along mainly because they thought it would be the safest place for their kids. Stepping out the car Rosalie took a moment to appreciate the silence and let it calm her down.

Everyone was getting out of their cars and making sure it was safe and that there were none of those things around. Once it was deemed clear the kids were allowed out. Carl went round to explore a little but Connor stuck by his mothers side not wanting to be too far away from her.

"Okay people!" Shane's voice boomed over all the talking "look I know we're all tired but we got work to do to make sure this place is safe. We should all start by putting our supplies together and getting what tents we have set up. Some may need to share until we have a chance to get more" most people murmured in agreement.

A man with greying blonde hair stepped forward along with a man with a crossbow, Rosalie guessed that was his brother. "Who the fuck put you in charge asshole?"

"No one, I'm just suggesting"

"Yeah well I don't want to be sharing my shit with any of y'all!"

"Listen we've got to work together to stay alive, we've all got to share here otherwise it won't work."

"Yeah and why should I listen to a pig like you, Merle Dixon don't take no orders from pigs" Merle took a step towards Shane as the two men squared off. Rosalie looked to Merles brother hoping he would do something but he just stood there looking bored. Rosalie tutted seeing that no one was going to intervene and pushed the two makes apart.

"Stop it! We need to be working together here it's the end of the fucking world for god sake! We need to work together if we want to survive this!"

"Ooh damn sugar and who are you? A sexy nurse?" Rosalie looked down and her slightly bloodied scrubs forgetting that she hadn't had time to change yet.

"The names Rosalie and if you ever talk to my brother like that again I'll knock you on your ass. Understood?"

"Woah okay little fire cracker ain't ya" he then turned to his brother "come on Daryl lets get our shit sorted" Daryl stared at Rosalie for a second an unreadable expression on his face before he turned to follow his brother.

After the little outburst everyone quickly got to work on organising the camp. Between them they had five tents which was just enough for everyone as at least six people could sleep in the RV but they would definitely need more eventually. Rosalie, Connor, Lori Carl and Shane were sharing a tent. It was a tight squeeze but they all managed to fit.

Once the camp was mostly set up for the night the large group sat round sharing stories and talking about their lives. They knew that tomorrow much work needed to be done but right now they were actually having fun. Rosalie found herself smiling a real smile for the first time in days. She looked around at everyone smiling as Connor rested his head on her shoulder clearly tired from the day's events. Rosalie sat there thinking about the future and even though the world had gone to shit they actually had a chance of surviving, together.


End file.
